News-Press Sunday 3/8/15 Bike Safety Feature: Paths of peril
Janine Zeitlin, Melanie Payne and Laura Ruane jzeitlin@news-press.com, mpayne@news-press.com, lruane@news-press.com
Each Southwest Florida bike death is a different, heartbreaking story...this is Jim Reif's story
James
H. Reif, 62
Crash
date: April 6, 2014
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| Jim Reif (photo: News-Press) |
Samantha Syoen, communications
director at the state attorney's office, worked for many years with Jim Reif at
Waterman Broadcasting. She was an executive producer and Reif was the director
of meteorology.
"He was very into
weather," Syoen said. "You could ask him a simple question: 'Is it
going to rain?' And he would not only tell you about the rain but he'd talk
about the clouds and El Niño…It was fun to hear him talk."
Reif worked at three of the four
local TV stations. Glenn Schwartz, a former WINK meteorologist and Reif's
longtime friend and colleague, told a News-Press reporter that weather was not
Reif's only love. He was a Philadelphia Phillies fan, world traveler and a
pilot. He had recently become engaged to a woman he had known in college and
reconnected with 40 years later.
Reif was also a bike rider. While
riding down Ben Hill Griffin Parkway on April 6, he lost control of his bike,
hit a road sign and then the curb. The crash caused several fractured ribs and
bruised and scraped Reif's arms and legs, injuries that were not serious.
The Medical Examiner determined
Reif's death was caused by "craniocerebral trauma" when he fell off
the bike and hit his head. Reif was not wearing a helmet.
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